Corruption and environmental sustainability

Purpose: The Purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships of corruption and selected measures of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) #7 of Ensuring Environmental Sustainability.

Design: The design uses secondary data from Transparency International on perception of corruption and the World Economic Forum’s Executive Opinion Survey of selected aspects of corruption. World Bank data on CPIA Policies and Institutes for Environmental Sustainability that foster and protect sustainable use of natural resources and manage pollution and its data on the MDGs were used to measure environmental sustainability. A series of statistical models were developed to examine the relations among perceptions of corruption and a country’s policies and reported improvements in Environmental Sustainability.

Research Limitations: The research is limited by the availability of data from reliable sources over a period of time. The corruption data, while the best available, are based on opinions and perceptions. Only selected aspects of a country’s Environmental Sustainability were examined; these included the evaluation of selected countries’ policies and institutions, the improvement in the percent of the population with access to clean water, renewable international freshwater resources and the percent of total surface area protected.

Findings: The findings are mixed, however, the level of corruption does not appear to be as negatively associated with environmental sustainability as was expected.

Originality: This Study builds on previous work by Anderson (2014a and b, 2012) that used Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) as a global measure of corruption and The World Economic Forum’s measures of corruption associated with economic development. This study, in contrast, examines the potential relationships between corruption and environmental sustainability measures.

Implications: Corruption may not be as negative influence on environmental sustainability as would be anticipated.